Latvian coalition has different opinions on budget amendment priorities for 2012

The ruling coalition in Latvia currently has different opinions regarding budget amendment priorities for 2012, emphasizing the necessity to support specific areas, but not wanting the amendments to affect budget spending in the next few years.

Unity leader and Saeima Speaker Solvita Aboltina told LETA that it is necessary to prevent
past practices, "when as soon as we had any extra funds, we began
distributing them forgetting about achieving a balance," pointed out the
Saeima speaker and added that Latvia's priorities are clearly stated in the
National Development Plan.

Meanwhile, All for Latvia!-For
Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (VL-TB/LNNK) Saeima Group Chairman Einars Cilinskis pointed out that the
allocation of funds must be balanced. There should not be a situation when
requests from one area are fully satisfied, while other areas receive nothing.
VL-TB/LNNK would like more funds to be allotted for demographic measures and
culture, which previously experienced funding cuts, explained the politician.

Reform Party's Saeima Group Deputy
Chairman Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis and
independent Saeima member Elina Silina
told LETA that they would rather support
one-off expenditures, but object to those that would automatically increase
spending during the next few years.

As reported, even though the amount
of additional financing from this year's budget has not been set, it is clear
that budget requests from ministries are much more than can realistically be
allocated, Dombrovskis told members of the press after Tuesday's Cabinet
meeting.

"The amount of additional
financing from this year's budget has not been set yet, but could be
approximately LVL 60 to 89 million. It is clear that recent budget requests
from various ministries cannot be realistically met," the prime minister
said.

The Finance Ministry previously
informed that the proposed budget amendments will be small, as the country's
budget deficit cannot exceed 2.1% of GDP.

After several years of cost
reductions during the economic crisis, this will be the first time that the
budget will be amended to increase spending, instead of reducing spending.

Two forums to shape the Baltic Sea regional future One Forum is aimed at revealing the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region up to 2030; another assembles high-level decision-makers from business, politics, academia and media to figure out some practical steps for implementing a “futurist strategy”. The former is gathering for the 7th time, the latter for the 18th; both are taking place this week in Stockholm, Sweden